This concept linked to the theory of chaos helps to understand what happens around us.
A well-known popular Chinese saying goes that “the slight flutter of a butterfly’s wings can be felt on the other side of the planet.”
This refers to the fact that even the smallest things have a considerable effect, and over time it has been included in numerous areas, from serving as the main basis of various literary works to forming a relevant part of one of the scientific theories or paradigms. most controversial and popular, the chaos theory.
And it is that the symbolism that contains this brief saying can be widely applicable to various realities, in what is known as the butterfly effect . It is about this effect that we are going to talk throughout this article.
Butterfly effect: what is it and what does it tell us?
The name of the butterfly effect is a well-known effect according to which the existence of a certain action or situation can cause a series of successive situations or actions that end up causing a considerable effect that does not seem to correspond to the situation or element that started it .
This concept stems from the experiences of the meteorologist Edward Lorenz, who created the term in 1973 in order to explain the impossibility of making fully reliable long-term weather predictions due to the accumulation of variables that can modify atmospheric behavior.
What the butterfly effect explains to us is that apparently simple and innocuous alterations of a variable or action can generate massive effects , being the first trigger of a process that, as it spreads, acquires more and more force. That is why it is said, in a variation of the popular saying, that the fluttering of a butterfly in Hong Kong can cause a hurricane in New York: the slightest alteration in the same process can lead to very different and even totally unexpected results. .
Basic part of chaos theory
The butterfly effect is a metaphor or analogy that is used as one of the pillars of the so-called chaos theory, also proposed by Lorenz, according to which there are systems in the universe that are highly sensitive to the presence of variations, which can generate very diverse (albeit limited) in a chaotic and unpredictable way.
The main model of chaos theory proposes that in the face of two identical worlds or situations in which there is only an almost insignificant variable that differentiates them from each other, over time this small difference can cause both worlds to become more and more different and more until it is practically impossible to determine that they were once the same.
In this way, many disciplines cannot generate a stable model that allows accurate long-term predictions to be made in such a way that they are totally reliable, since small variables can greatly vary the results. Even the flutter of a butterfly. In this way, we must face the fact that we are always going to find a certain degree of uncertainty and chaos, the existence of a totally 100% sure prediction being highly improbable regarding what is going to happen: the facts can escape the possibility of prediction.
Although its high symbolic charge may seem to be the product of mysticism, the truth is that we are dealing with a branch or paradigm of science initially based on physics and mathematics (in fact, Lorenz himself was a meteorologist and mathematician) and that allows us to explain why Predictions that seemed very accurate and worked can often fail. Likewise, it also helps to escape total determinism and to assess which are the variables involved in each phenomenon, in such a way that knowledge should not be watertight but rather adaptable and fluid.
- You may be interested: ” What is Chaos Theory and what does it reveal to us? “
Its implications on the human psyche
Although the so-called butterfly effect has been mainly linked to fields such as meteorology , the mechanism or operation that it proposes also has applicability within the discipline of psychology. And it is that the fact that a simple fluttering can cause a hurricane can serve as an analogy to what happens in behavior and the human psyche.
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In this sense, the butterfly effect would apply to each and every one of the decisions we make, given that no matter how trivial a choice may seem, it can lead to a course of action and have results that are diametrically different from those that would have been implied by having made another choice. .
It is possible to see this, for example, within psychopathology : even though perhaps a depressed person may not initially notice a great improvement by starting to take care of their daily hygiene after having neglected for months or trying one day to eat with their family Instead of eating alone in his room, this fact can generate a series of small changes that make it easier for him to finally get out of the depression that kept him isolated from the world. From there to doing it more often, deciding to try other things, leaving home for the first time, going back to work, having fun again and staying more active…
The butterfly effect also influences psychology when we realize that each of our actions does not just end , but can have effects both on ourselves and on the environment. An affectionate or rude comment, a hug, a criticism, a whisper, a compliment, a bad answer… or seemingly pointless things like greeting someone or even just looking at them, have the potential to change things both for us and for others.
That is why our actions must take this fact into account, in such a way that it may be necessary to assess what effects our actions or the lack thereof may have on ourselves or on others.
concluding
This theory also implies that we cannot fully know the results of our actions , and that the results obtained from them may be different depending on the participation of different variables during the process. This is something that on the one hand can provoke curiosity and motivation to explore, although for other people it can be a reason for anguish and suffering (something that can even be at the base of many disorders).
Finally, the butterfly effect also helps to explain why there are such disparate reactions to the same situation or stimulation: the conditions from which each one of us starts are different both at a biological (genetic inheritance) and psychosocial level (learning, experiences, styles of behavior). life and coping…).